congratulations. The first thing I would do is upgrade those footers.
Your journey with lower-watt tube amps -- Can a kit be good enough?
Looking for stories about your low-watt amp journeys.
Here's the situation: I have new speakers, 97 db. Trying them with lower watt tube amps (45/211, 300b, etc) seems generally wise. I am attempting to borrow some from audiophiles in the area.
The horizon beyond trying these things involves actually buying some. I'm looking at a budget limit of about $5k.
Curious as to folks' experience with lower-watt amp kits vs. those of good makers (e.g. Dennis Had, etc.).
If you have any thoughts about the following, I'd be interested:
Did you start out with a kit and then get dissatisfied? Why?
Did you compare kits vs. pre-made and find big differences?
Did you find you could get the equivalent level of quality in a kit for much less than the same pre-made version? How about kit vs. used?
Also: did you find there was a difference between "point to point wiring" vs. "PCB" in these various permutations?
I realize that there are good kits and bad ones, good pre-made amps and bad ones. I'm hoping you'll be comparing units which seem at comparable levels of quality and price-points.
Thanks.
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@hilde45 Nice! I'll be interested to hear your comments. I saw that amp on ebay as well and really had to think about buying it just so I could see how far I could push it. |
A couple of friends I helped with on their Altec-Onken 102 db horn speaker creations use modified ST35s on rotation when taking their custom modified AudioNote 300B amps out of the loop. They seem to like them and use them quite a bit to save their WE300Bs. I demoed one once, it was different sound from other amps I've tried in my system. Fairly plush sounding too. |
@decooney , @hilde45 , One weakness of that amp is seen in the schematic. The 4 power tubes share a single resistor (bypassed by a capacitor) to set up the bias of the output tubes. There really should be a resistor and cap for each output tube pair. This was a space and cost saving move on Dynaco's part. That's a pretty well known issue in this amp and the SCA35 which uses the same transformers. By separating the channels in this manner the amp performs and sounds better. |
One thing missing from this long and delightful discussion is a mention of another kit building option that offers tube like sound with solid state gear. I’m talking about the DIY audio store where many designs by Nelson Pass and others are available along with an associated forum of DIY minded people. I began my kit building journey with Nelson Passes Amp Camp Amp at this store and have gone on to build a Firstwatt F6. and a Waynes 2018 preamp. I can’t say enough good things about the people on the forums, the build guides, and the end products which I find compare very nicely with my tube amps for sound and listening pleasure. All kit builders or would-be kit builders should be aware of this resource. |
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